


And Nothing Happened

by voleuse



Category: Battlestar Galactica
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-17
Updated: 2006-07-17
Packaged: 2017-10-04 06:23:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>No lightning come to split me like a tree.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	And Nothing Happened

**Author's Note:**

> Pre-series, spoilers for the miniseries only. Title and summary taken from Alan Shapiro's _Mezuzah_.

It's been three months since Kara came aboard the _Galactica_, and she's only now beginning to relax.

She's been waiting for somebody to realize she doesn't belong here, that she's a frak-up, a loser, a woman who killed the man she loves. She's waiting for them to show up with handcuffs or discharge papers, because being here and free and flying is too good for someone like her.

Instead, however, everybody except the XO has been decent. They leave her alone if she leaves them alone, and that's the end of it.

*

 

This one guy, Helo, invites her to a thrice-weekly card game. She turns him down the first few times, but one night it gets too lonely, and she shows up in the rec room halfway through midnight.

After she wins every hand, wipes the table clean, she pats Helo on the head with affection. "Idiot," she tells him.

Everybody else throws their cards at him, and suddenly Kara feels like she might be able to stay.

*

 

Helo's pilot-in-training is a rook, callsign Boomer. Kara likes her; Boomer was the first one to throw a punch at her.

She tossed the kid on her ass, of course, but she respects the effort.

Sometimes, on the hangar deck, she sees the way Boomer smiles at the crew chief. She knows that look, and it leaves a bitter taste in the back of her mouth.

When she can, she rolls her eyes, slugs Helo on the shoulder and drags him to the gym.

It's easier than watching them saunter off together, because she and Zak used to do that, too.

*

 

The XO hates her, she's pretty sure. Doesn't matter much, because she despises him right back.

He visits the ready room during one briefing, lists to the side as the CAG details their new formations.

Kara can see the way his hands tremble around his mug, and it isn't water he's drinking. She lets her lip curl, lets a snicker escape.

The CAG pauses in his speech, stares at Kara. "Something you want to say, Starbuck?"

She shakes her head, just looks at Tigh. Raises her hand to feign a toast, then winks.

That's the first time she gets thrown in hack.

*

 

They let her out in the space of a day, and Adama calls her into his office immediately after.

She balances on the edge of her chair and wonders what to do with her hands.

Adama slides a glass across to her. "Go ahead," he says. "You're not on the roster today."

"If you say so." Kara takes the drink, tips her head back to drain the dregs. "Thanks."

He toys with his own drink, swirling the amber liquid in the drink.

She fights the urge to tap on her empty glass. Bites her lip, and finally asks, "Sir?"

Adama nods, to what question she isn't sure, and smiles. "Tell me about Zak."

She sits back. "What do you want to know?" Her ring feels cold, and she twists it around her thumb.

"Anything." He drinks quickly, sets his glass down. "How did you meet him?"

"Oh." Kara thinks this over, and starts with the way Zak leaned against the door of her office. The first time they went out for drinks, and the first time he told her about his family.

Adama asks her some questions, interjects with his own memories, but mostly he lets her talk. There are several things she leaves out of her stories.

She hopes he'll never ask.


End file.
